ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the major factors involved in selecting an optimum machinery set and reviews the farm machinery selection and management program. If a specific set of machinery is used to perform a set number of field operations on a farm of a given size, the annual use of each machine and the fixed and variable costs can be estimated. It is necessary to know the relation between productivity of machinery and labor cost. When labor is hired on an annual basis, total labor cost is independent of machine operating time and productivity. The machinery cost factors file contains the constants for the equations used to estimate the fixed and variable machinery costs. The equipment file is a stored file that contains a list of tractors with matched implements and combines with matched attachments that are available within the program.
